The weeds were thick and chokingly plentiful in the field that evening as the gathered musicians took up instruments and stared at each other with menace and loathing in their eyes.

It had all started when the ‘Minstrels of Madigy’ had insulted their rivals, the ‘Boys of Bangor’, by insinuating that the ‘Boys’ muse, a fine lass by the name of Holly, was nothing but a shallow tramp. In the world of small musical ensembles this really was not an acceptable thing to do, so the ‘Boys of Bangor’ had no choice but to declare jihad on the ‘Minstrels’ and challenge them to a jam off at dusk.

J-Pod, the referee of all local jam offs, flipped one coin into the air to see who would get to have first riff. The gathered crowd, all one thousand nine hundred and eighty five of them, watched with complete and sincere interest as the coin came up in favor of the ‘Minstrels’.

“May nothing but happiness come through your door!” the lead singer cried out straight away as the ‘Minstrels’ rumbled into their first musical piece